By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CLIFTON - In local higher education circles, he's become the affordability evangelist.

Cincinnati State president Ron Wright looks out over the campus from the new, 200,000+ square feet building that will open later this year. (Craig Ruttle photo)

For nearly seven years, Ron Wright has worked to bolster the reputation of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. The first African-American to lead a college or university in Cincinnati, he's spreading the word about what institutions like his can do for communities, businesses and families.

It's chapter and verse for the community college movement: People of every socio-economic background should have access to a college education.

But Wright's message is reaching the masses more effectively than those who came before him. He's held tuition increases down, the school's enrollment has jumped 39 percent, degree programs have risen 50 percent, and millions in capital improvements are under way.

"In my inaugural address, I said, 'We're going to take the college off the hill and carry (it) out into the community,' " Wright explained. "And by doing that, we're going to increase the numbers of people who will choose Cincinnati State as a college of first choice."

Wright has made progress toward that goal, raising the profile of the Clifton campus locally and statewide, said Terry Thomas, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges.

Specifically, under Wright's watch:

• The number of degree programs has risen from 48 to 72.

• Enrollment has increased 39 percent, from 6,119 to a school record of an estimated 8,500 for the current term.

• The landmark relationship on work force training forged with Great Oaks Institute of Technology and Career Development has been hailed as a statewide model, Thomas said. It's designed to help Greater Cincinnati develop a highly skilled, motivated work force to make the area the economic hub of the region.

• And the most visible change to campus - a $55 million Advanced Technology and Learning Center, which will house the Midwest Culinary Institute and the school's first student center - will open this fall.

Yet in that time, since 1997, Cincinnati State has raised tuition only $2.50 per credit hour, from $62.50 to $65, or 4 percent.

That's during a period when other regional schools have implemented tuition increases in double-digit percentages. For example, at Clermont College, a University of Cincinnati two-year school, the cost per credit hour has increased from $85 to $105, or 24 percent.

Facing difficulties

All this hasn't been easy.

Cincinnati State President Ron Wright laughs as he goes through the crowd at the first annual Scholarship Recognition Dinner in January at the college. (Craig Ruttle photo)

Last year, the school dipped into reserves, made deep budget cuts and launched cost-saving measures, rather than raise tuition to balance the budget.

The school received $4 million worth of grants in the last couple of years to fund outreach programs. Partnerships with Mercy Health Systems and Health Alliance have helped pay for instructors in some health technologies classes.

Local fire companies have shared the cost of equipment for fire service instruction. Athletic programs dropped divisions, which saved the college about $100,000 a year, school officials said.

Officials are considering a tuition increase for this summer or fall, a hike Wright hopes to keep at $2.50 per credit hour or less.

The president has held true to his convictions, but not without sharp criticism from faculty.

Some contend the college spends too much money on sports - and not enough on resources and full-time faculty to educate and mentor students.

The number of full-time faculty has hovered between 180 and 190 for the past 15 years - despite enrollment increases, said Pam Ecker, president of Cincinnati State's chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

The most recent criticism came in a stinging union newsletter, released Feb. 9, questioning fiscal decisions made by Wright's administration and the school's Board of Trustees.

The newsletter cited an Ohio Board of Regents rating of 1.3 on a 5-point scale that assessed the school's 2003 financial health. In contrast, Cincinnati State scored a 4.0 in 2002.

Wright and the school's financial officers say the recent score stems from how the school's current assets were calculated. Wright and Cincinnati State auditors say they plan to appeal for a recalculation.

"A lot of faculty members at Cincinnati State have concerns about the way decisions are made and whether everyone who ought to be a stakeholder really is equally valued when decisions are being made," Ecker said.

"We all care very deeply about everything that has to do with the quality of what this college offers. We all want this college to remain as affordable as possible," she added. "But a lot of faculty members question whether the management of the fiscal resources has been appropriate."

Despite the criticism, Wright maintains that there's one strategy to ensure the highest number of students enroll: Keep tuition as low as possible. To date, Cincinnati State's Board of Trustees has agreed.

"Part of our expectation was around visibility, which would lead to increased enrollment and that has happened," board member Lisa FitzGibbon said of Wright's leadership. "Despite what everybody else in the state has been doing, we haven't raised tuition. The fact that we have managed to increase enrollment and still not increased tuition says that the college is budgeting sufficiently.

"What that means is changing some of the ways that things are done, and in higher education, change (is) slow."

A matter of conviction

SCHOOL AT A GLANCE

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College: Address: 3520 Central Parkway, Clifton. Chartered: 1969 by the Ohio Board of Regents. Enrollment: 8,500. Who attends: Average student age is 27; 56 percent female, 44 percent male. Tuition: $65 per credit hour (12 hours is full time). Popular programs: Culinary arts, computer graphics technology, nursing, fire service and civil engineering technology, and an associate of arts. 2002-03 internship and co-op placements: 3,129. Faculty: 188 full-time; 397 part-time.

Spreading the message about college affordability comes naturally for a man who grew up in a family of ministers and who attended community college himself.

But Wright's conviction about the power of higher education - and access to it - is as deep as his belief in lifting up a fellow man, and teaching by example.

In the hallways at Cincinnati State, Wright's easy to pick out. He knows how to buy a suit - and wear it. Chocolate brown, pinstripes, trendy ties. He calls his shoe style "East Coast urban chic."

His gold rings match the small pin he wears on his jacket lapel. It reads: Quality. Jazz or hip-hop gospel music plays in his office. He knows what students think is cool.

This smooth persona may sometimes belie his unwavering commitment. What's at stake here is much more than preparing students for a career, Wright said. It's about equipping a community of people with enough skills so that they pay into the public treasury rather than take out of it, one of Wright's trademark phrases. He wants to convince them they have a chance to make it no matter their circumstances.

"Someone once told me that I had a Messianic complex," Wright explained. "I probably do because my work, my focus, is to save my own self every year 100-fold. Most of the kids here are me. They have the knowledge, ability and skill, but they have no hope and no heart, no hope that they could ever do it." Wright's experiences growing up mirror those of the students he mentors.

Three of Wright's grandparents were functionally illiterate. His parents worked blue-collar jobs to raise their seven children. His father was a laborer for Scott Paper Co., his mother a domestic. The sign that welcomed visitors to his tough Pennsylvania hometown underscored its manufacturing roots: What Chester Makes, Makes Chester.

But Wright's father, Harvey, had other ideas for his sons. He wanted them to grow up to be something. So in the Wright house, the children went to school the same way they went to church - without fail.

"I stressed education to them," said Harvey Wright. "He's an ideal man to be a president of a college. He can make you laugh and joke and whatnot, but when it comes to making decisions, he can do it."

Right place to learn

RON WRIGHT FILE

Title: President of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. Tenure: He was named the school's fourth president in August 1997. Born: Oct. 28, 1946, in Chester, Pa. Residence: Evendale. Family: Wife, Peggy, married for 37 years; and two daughters, Ronda, 30, and Racquel, 34. Education: Associate degree in liberal arts, Northeastern Christian Junior College; bachelor's in applied psychology, Pepperdine University; M.Ed. in counseling psychology, Antioch College; Ph.D. in policy analysis and management, Cornell University. Experience: Executive vice president, Delaware County Community College, August 1991 - July 1997; vice president for academic affairs, Baltimore City Community College, June 1988 - August 1991; policy analyst, Delaware Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Activities: Elder at Gray Road Church of Christ in Winton Place; board member of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati's membership committee.

The younger Wright earned an associate's degree at Northeastern Christian Junior College in Villanova, Pa., in 1966. A freshman composition professor encouraged the B-plus student with an athletic background to focus on academics rather than his dream of becoming the next NBA star.

"I was in the right place," Wright said. "I got the right direction. I actually got somebody who cared about me as a human being. And that's what I'm hoping for these people, that I'm at the right place at the right time."

That was before an experience at Oklahoma Christian College, where he was working on a bachelor's degree, jolted his confidence in 1968. After a group of basketball players was accused of an off-campus alcohol infraction and expelled, they asked Wright, a campus leader, to plead their case to the college president.

He agreed, even though he hadn't attended the party. Wright argued that he and the others should be able to talk to the president as a group, not just individually. But the president disagreed and expelled Wright, along with the others, 35 days before graduation.

That experience taught him a powerful lesson that he adheres to today, he said, not about doing the right thing but about speaking from the right pulpit. It's the reason he focuses solely on the business of the college, rather than speaking out on community issues such as race relations.

"When you go too far out of your sphere of influence and people think you have no business speaking on something, they will punish you," he said, "and all that good you're trying to do for people will be lost."

Harold Fletcher, an 80-year-old retired professor, taught Wright at Oklahoma Christian.

"I believed in what he did and still do," Fletcher said, adding that the incident had racial overtones. "I never made a secret about that. It was costly. He would have graduated at the end of that semester. But he was a natural spokesman for anything he felt strongly about. He was obviously a leader."

Fletcher knew Wright would prevail despite the experience and followed his success over the years.

A bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University in 1970.

The Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1990.

His career as a counselor, community college administrator and spiritual leader in the Church of Christ.

When Wright was named president of Cincinnati State - beating out more than 120 applicants to succeed James Long - Fletcher spoke at his inauguration.

He was also there when, after more than 30 years, Wright went back to Oklahoma Christian in 2002 at the invitation of a former academic dean to speak at the college and be recognized as a successful alumnus at a luncheon.

Wright is aware of his critics and says only that he hasn't yet brought them around to the right way of thinking.

His focus remains to preach the word about affordable higher education and how Cincinnati State can change people's lives. It's as straightforward a message, he says, as the sign that welcomed people to Chester when he was a boy. Only this time, it's an education that's making the difference.

"I might have to come up with a sign for my office," Wright said. "What Cincinnati State makes, makes Cincinnati."

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E-mail kgoetz@enquirer.com